It was all in the local news a couple of weeks ago:
Amsterdam police was using a helicopter-robot to assist in clearing squatted buildings.
In previous ‘clearings’ a manned helicopter (zulu 00) would assist to deliver detailed video (6MB) from up above.
But now they seem to use a much cheaper alternative: the air robot (video link).
A gadget I spotted two years ago at the security show in Essen (make sure to visit this years show!)
A police officer wearing special video glasses controls the device and supplies the ground troops with tactical video.
The moment I heard about it, I wondered how easy it would be to take over the remote control of this ‘air robot’.
As great minds think alike, Huub Roem of Dutch ‘Frequency Monitoring Center‘ found out they use the Multiplex ROYA Levo remote control for the air-robot.
It’s a 35 Mhz standard radio remote control (35.00 to 35.22 Mhz). Easy to purchase, easy to boost output power … and easy to jam.
The air-robot is said to costs around 35.000 euro. I wonder if they have insurance on it …
Way cool!
But don’t you think this post will cool the relationship with the men in blue? (I’m not really sure if that relationship even exists.
BTW. The hotlink to http://fmc.dotnet-services.nl/images/royalevo.jpg has some weird outcome.
That dude in the blue hard-hat and with the remote seems so funny 😛 Almost steotypic nerd 😀
This jamming procedure would be almost as easy as jamming kids remote controlled toys that work on 27MHz: Just use a small walkie-talkie and hit the tangent.
I don’t know how the communications are made with the helicopter exactly, but would it work if you had a scanner and then just find the right frequency and jam that? Or just use a jammer that is not built properly and it jams about everything around that frequency 😉
I can’t find the source, but I read that the ‘air robot’ has some sort of auto-pilot functionality that allows it to land “safely” when communication with the remote breaks down.
Of course you would still effectively prevent them from using it.
I wonder how far a shotgun can be effective against these ducks.
perhaps theres room for producing shotgun ammo for longer range, perhaps with proximity fuses :~}
Raimundo,
hunting is banned in NL …
and duck hunting only begins in September in some parts of Europe … I don’t know for USA
I’m sure a good double barrel 12 gauge gun will do the job on this “black ducky” … once killed you need also a dog to find the ducky out and keep it up !!! 😉
@raimundo: Amsterdam cops != non usa! Squatters in holland don’t carry shotguns as far as i know. You’ll get busted for more than illegal squatting if you’d try that out here.
Rukwind: I do not think posts like this will jeopardize the very intimate relationship we currently have with some Dutch Police forces. As a matter of fact, they might even hire me to see if I can really break/disrupt the system….
Clearly, I was using satire to point out an area of vulnerablity under certain conditions, obviouly, there are other conditions that may apply, such as gusty wind conditions. Notice the smiley ;~}
I just say what comes to mind, I don’t self censor.
is the squatting problem really that serious that they need patrols with helicopter robots and air robots to take care of it? and what looks like a swat team?
I also thought about this too.
The only problem is that the actual AirRobot has a special device that will safely land the unit back on the ground near to the operator if a second signal is receieved on the same channel. The code is encrypted so using a normal Royal Evo (Multiplex) will not give you the desired results; crashing it into the gound!
Another point: If you did this and were caught you would most likely end up eating Dutch Prison food.
Quite a bit cheaper: http://www.snelflight.co.uk/camera.htm
These toys have been modified to FM transmitters to increase the range.
Could be probably be reverse engineered, and scaled up as well.
Forgot the glasses and camera:
http://www.myvu.com/Crystal-C24.aspx
http://www.pakatak.co.uk/shop/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=145